


Yuri!!! of Math

by MizushimaHikari



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anxiety, Competition, Disappointment, M/M, Mathematics, Pets, Research
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2016-12-21
Packaged: 2018-09-11 00:37:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8945854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MizushimaHikari/pseuds/MizushimaHikari
Summary: Following a crushing failure at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), American math competitor Yuuri Katsuki returns to his hometown of Los Angeles to reevaluate his relationship with mathematics. When his groundbreaking math research expanding on living math legend Viktor Nikiforov’s work is secretly published online, it catches Viktor’s attention. Viktor suddenly travels to LA to be become Yuuri’s coach. With his coach, Yuuri aims to win gold at IMO. 
A mathematics competition AU.





	

...He never fails to amaze me. Ever since I read his research, it’s been an unending chain of discoveries…

~

I huddled in my seat as my teammate and idol, Viktor Nikiforov, was called to the stage to receive special recognition. After demolishing the three math problems of Day 2 of the International Math Olympiad, Viktor Nikiforov became the first math competitor ever to win five gold medals at IMO. Here, in Sochi, Russia, he was making history. 

Me, on the other hand… This was my first time qualifying for the US IMO team. The problems had crushed me. I only got partial credit on the first problem of Day 2; I hadn’t even attempted the second and third problems. As a result, I was dead last among my teammates – I didn’t even earn a medal of any color. 

Our deputy coach Celestino placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Yuuri, don’t look at the forums! Let’s go back!” 

It was too late. I was already browsing math forums. I read out a thread title: “Katsuki Fails to Medal. Is This Season His Last?” 

~

Let me introduce myself. My name is Yuuri Katsuki. I am one of dozens of secondary school math competitors of the US. My name might sound strong, but at my first IMO, I finished last among the six competitors representing the US, and I performed so poorly that I didn’t even medal…

I still can’t accept what happened. 

I even moved to Detroit to train under the US IMO deputy coach Celestino Cialdini and worked hard to make it onto the US IMO team. But the pressure was too much – I was binge-eating mountains of junk food before the competition, and our family dog died… 

~

As I kept reading forum discussions lambasting me for wasting my shot at IMO, I slipped into the bathroom and locked myself in a stall to call my family. 

“Hello? Mom, were you sleeping? Sorry.” 

“Yuuri! It’s so good to hear from you. You didn’t wake me up.” 

“Eh?”

“I was watching a livestream of the IMO award ceremony! We had a public viewing!” 

“Mom! That’s embarrassing!” 

“Even though you didn’t win a medal, everyone back home is still really proud of you!” 

My eyes began to water. “I’m sorry. I messed up.” 

After ending the call, I stayed in the stall, my butt plastered to the toilet cover. As hard as I tried, I couldn’t fight back the tears; my lower lip was quivering, and tears were dripping down my palms and onto my phone screen and leaving salty residue on my glasses. 

Suddenly, someone kicked the stall door. I hastily wiped my face and opened it, muttering a robotic, “I’m sorry.” 

There, in his red leopard print shoes and his NYC hoodie, stood Junior IMO gold medalist (not to mention top scorer among all the junior competitors), Yuri Plisetsky. My entire body quivered as he glared at me like I was a piece of garbage. 

Yuri stuck a pointed finger right in my face and hissed, “I’m going to make the Senior IMO team next year. We don’t need two Yuris in the same event. Incompetents like you should just retire already.” He then shoved his furious face next to mine (which made me flinch) and taunted, “MORON!” With that, he left the bathroom. 

Yuri Plisetsky had a point. Whether or not I quit math, there were tons of young mathematicians itching to make it onto the US IMO team. 

~ 

As I was leaving the venue with Coach Celestino, I overheard a smooth tenor voice say, “Yuri, you could have solved Problem 6 synthetically…” 

My teammate Viktor Nikiforov and Yuri Plisetsky, followed our head coach Yakov Feltsman, walked by me. My gaze followed the gold medalists, the geniuses I could never hope to be. 

Viktor noticed my staring, and smiled the way a world-class athlete would smile at a fan. That made sense; even though we were both on the US IMO team, we trained in different places across the nation and had never spoken to each other. He probably didn’t even know who I was. 

“A commemorative photo?” he asked, still smiling. 

He was so cool and collected … and unattainable. I turned around and left before I could start crying again. This was too humiliating. Here I was, thinking I could compete with my idol…

~ 

In August, I ended my coaching relationship with Celestino and returned to Los Angeles. It had been years since I had last been here. To my horror, when I reached my neighborhood, there were posters bearing my face and name EVERYWHERE. 

“Yuuri!” A familiar voice called. I turned around to see my hometown math coach, Minako Okukawa. Oh, no. I didn’t want anyone from home to see me in my current sorry state, but of course she would know when I was coming back home. She walked with me to my family’s home and hot spring resort, Yu-topia. 

My mom answered the door. “Minako, thanks for going to get Yuuri! Welcome back, Yuuri!” 

“Thanks, Mom. I’m sorry I haven’t been home for so long…” 

“It’s fine! Do you want pork cutlet bowls for dinner?” 

“Yeah, just there’s something I need to do first…” 

My dad walked in and said, “Yuuri! Glad to see you back! You should say hello to Vicky!” 

I went to a small room in the back, where there was a small shrine for my dog, Vicky. I placed a small offering of sticky buns in front of her picture and kneeled, apologizing for not being with her at the end. 

“Welcome home, Yuuri,” greeted my older sister Mari as she walked into the room. 

“It’s been a while! Sorry to be a stranger.” 

“Now you’re back, what are you going to do?” 

“Huh? Where’s this coming from?” 

“If you want to keep doing math, I’ll support you.” 

I tilted my head down. “I still need some time to think it over.” 

She smiled wistfully. “Alright. Go relax in the hot spring!” 

After a quick soak, I still felt antsy. I ran to the local university, Hasetsu University. When I entered the front door, a woman with her back turned to the door called, “I’m sorry! We’re closed now.” 

“It’s me, Yuuri!” 

She turned around and grinned when she saw me. “Yuuri!” 

“Hi, Yuuko,” I mumbled as my foot fidgeted. Yuuko Nishigori was one of my friends from childhood and was currently at instructor at Hasetsu. Back when she did math competitively, I looked up to her. 

Naturally, I had a crush on her. Even now, she was still cute.

“You’re here because you want to work on math alone, right? I’ll let you in,” she said, winking. 

“Thanks!” I breathed in relief. Yuuko was always kind. As a child, I was frequently picked on by Takeshi Nishigori, but Yuuko always defended me. She was actually the one who introduced me to competitive math and to Viktor Nikiforov. 

Ever since that fateful day, I wanted to be just like him. When he got a cute fluffy brown poodle, I begged my family to get a dog. After a month of pleading and sobbing, my parents relented, and we got a brown toy poodle. I named her Viktoria and called her Vicky for short. 

Yuuko led me to an empty classroom with a chalkboard. 

“Actually, Yuuko, I wanted to show you something. I’ve been working on it for a while. Please listen.” 

I took a deep breath and deftly selected a piece of chalk. After clearing my mind of distractions, my hand moved out and graced the board with my math research, as inspired by Viktor Nikiforov. 

“…so, you see, by applying this stronger version of the Bombieri-Vinogradov theorem and refining our admissible comb, I can improve Nikiforov’s bound of seventy million down to six hundred.” 

I turned towards Yuuko, who sat motionless. Had I said something blatantly wrong? Was my proof incorrect? Was my presentation lousy? 

She abruptly leapt out of her seat. “Yuuri, this is amazing! I can’t believe you improved on Viktor Nikiforov’s bound! I thought you’d be depressed or something after IMO.” 

“I was, but I didn’t want to feel like that anymore. I want to reclaim my passion for math. I thought maybe copying Nikiforov’s method would remind me of the old days when we would work on math together.” 

At that moment, Takeshi Nishigori, another childhood friend of mine and Yuuko’s husband, and their three triple girls, Axis, Lemma, and Loop Nishigori, simultaneously swarmed me and asked personal questions (Are you giving up on math? Why don’t you have a girlfriend?) until their father told them to shush. 

“Yuuri! Long time no see! My kids really admire you. They’re your groupies. We Nishigoris got your back!” Takeshi declared. 

I clasped my hands together. “Thank you for your support. It means a lot, knowing that everyone back home still has faith in me. ” 

~

I awoke the next morning to the sound of my buzzing phone. Takeshi left me a string of text messages and a series of calls. 

I nearly dropped my phone when I read his first text, a link to a Youtube video. In the video was ME, going through my refinement of Nikiforov’s theorem on bounded gaps between prime numbers. Worst of all, the damn thing already had a million views. 

Takeshi called yet again, and this time I answered. “WHAT IS THIS?!” 

“I’m sorry, Yuuri. My kids uploaded a video of your research, and it went viral.” In the background were Yuuko yelling at her girls and one girl (I couldn’t tell which) insisting that the math nerds would love it. 

With what little dignity I still had, I turned off my phone and crawled back into bed. I couldn’t even. 

~

Miraculously, even though it was late August, and it was SoCal, it hailed in Los Angeles. My mom ordered me to clear the hailstones out front. I rummaged through my closet for my winter clothing. It took me a while to find my coat – it was August, not December! After taking far too long to find suitable clothing (and enduring my mother’s nagging), I opened the front door, ready to take on the task. 

A large brown poodle sat on the doorstep and barked. 

“Vicky?” I said out of force of habit. This dog looked A LOT like her. 

The poodle pounced on me, knocking me over. Oh man, he was heavy. He licked my face and kneaded my sweater. Huh, he looked really familiar…

My dad noticed me and the dog, sprawled on the floor. I sat up as he spoke. “Yuuri, isn’t he just like Vicky? He came with a really good-looking guest from New York City! He’s in the hot spring right now!” 

“HUH?” I fell flat on my face before dashing towards the hot spring. This couldn’t be real! I threw open the door to the hot springs, anxious of who or what I would find there. 

Oh my god, this WAS happening. Viktor Nikiforov, my hero and idol and everything, was bathing in my family’s hot springs. 

“Viktor,” I whispered, “Why are you here?” 

Viktor arose from the spring (and oh god, he was completely naked). With a toss of his hair, he reached out with a flourish and announced, “Yuuri, starting today, I’m your personal coach. I’ll make you win gold at IMO.”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, dear reader! I'm thrilled to see that you're reading my Yuri!!! on Ice math competition AU. I saw quite a few parallels between the world of competitive figure skating and the world of competitive mathematics, so I just HAD to write this. I hope you like my spin on the beautiful story that Yamamoto Sayo and Kubo Mitsurou have created! 
> 
> Just as the anime is based on real figure skating competitions, a lot of the information about math and math competitions is drawn from real life.  
> -IMO is an annual, international competition held for secondary school students. Each participating nation can send up to six students to represent it. However, unlike the GPF, multiple gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded. (Also, there is no such thing as Junior IMO.)  
> -Viktor and Yuuri both did research on bounded gaps between primes. The existence of such a bound was only proven in 2013, and the bound given was seventy million.
> 
> (Also, I'm so sorry I named one of the triplets Lemma. ._.)  
> And yes, I made Yuuri's dog a girl.


End file.
